Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is a landmark memoir and psychological treatise, first published in 1946, that draws on Frankl's survival of Nazi concentration camps — including Auschwitz — to articulate logotherapy, a theory holding that the primary human drive is the pursuit of meaning rather than pleasure or power. Named among "the ten most influential books in the United States" in a survey conducted by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress, and translated into 24 languages with over 10 million copies sold by the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book remains one of the most widely read works in existential psychology. It is indispensable reading for those drawn to questions of resilience, purpose, and the psychological dimensions of extreme suffering — though some scholarly critics have raised pointed objections to aspects of Frankl's framing and to the book's subtext.

Reviewed Apr 2, 2026